Page 93 of Nothing to No One

Oh, and Roxie’s question about finding her so fast? No one could answer that. It was kind of embarrassing she hadn’t asked it herself. With no friends in town, no connections, no one in LA knew her except her colleagues, and Renata hadn’t even known she was missing that night.

Back at the mansion, she went up to her bedroom to change out of her clothes and snagged a satin robe. If she and Struan were definitely alone in the house, she wouldn’t have bothered with it. Magnus could be around and she didn’t want to be caught creeping around the house naked late at night. Or at any time.

Dim light from under Struan’s bedroom door suggested he might still be awake. Whether he was or not, she still planned to visit. Pushing down the handle, she peeked around the door. Lying on the bed, back to her, he twisted to check who was intruding.

“Should I have knocked?”

“No, baby,” he said on a snicker. “Come here.”

In she went, closing the door with an extra push. Anything to slow unwelcome visitors. And, at that point, everyone was unwelcome.

“I was out at a premiere thing.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

Darting across the room, she leaped onto the bed and clambered over him, casting her robe aside so she was naked before wriggling under the covers and tucking herself in.

“You’re sleeping here tonight?”

Maybe she should’ve… “If that’s okay. I know it’s only been a couple of nights but…”

He caught her chin to match their eyes. “But…?”

“I’m not sure I could sleep in a cold bed without you.” Dumping herself on him was kind of rude. “Should I have asked permission?”

“No,” he said and propped his own head back on his fist. “No, Fawn, I just didn’t expect—”

“I can go,” she said, sitting up. “If you’d rather just—”

“No.” He put a hand on her waist to keep her still. “Stay where you are. Did Roman come back with you?”

She settled down again. “No, he went to party somewhere else. Zairn would only serve him club soda, so he wasn’t in the best of moods.”

“I saw they showed up. Was that a coincidence?” The curl of her lips and sly eyes answered for her. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Good. I’m glad you had support. I’m always sorry when I can’t be with you.”

Oh, and there was regret. “If you saw them at the event, did you see the red carpet?”

“Yeah,” he said, his expression inscrutable.

“Does that mean you saw—”

“Yeah,” he said again, and shook his head on his knuckles. “Let’s not talk about that.”

Although she didn’t like barriers, she had to respect his boundaries. “I wish you hadn’t seen—”

“I do too. Other than that, did you enjoy yourself?”

If he wanted to move along that was more than fine by her. She’d happily relegate that kiss to some dusty, dirty corner of her memory and pile new shiny ones on top. Lots of Struan kisses would be excellent cover.

“Roxie asked me something. A question I couldn’t answer and Roman couldn’t either.”

“Okay, try me.”

“How did they find out who I was? ‘They’ being the national, potentially international, press. How did they ID me in the video so fast?” She kept going in spite of his frown. “No one in LA knew me, other than those I work with, and they didn’t even know I was missing during the power cut.”

“Renata? Maybe after the fact.”

“Why would someone think to ask Renata? Why would someone think to show her the picture?”

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